Leachate #50

What's up everyone this week I interview a cool band from North Carolina talk bout the history of the band and his other project check it out.

State your name and what band do you play for?

I’m CJ Coronado, I play in Leachate and Locust Reign. Both are “grindcore” bands based out of North Carolina. I also run Shirley Road Records.

 

How you doing CJ?

I’m really good, thanks for asking! I’m always busy with band / label work, and so far 2021 has blown away my expectations for all of my different projects. I’ve also been leveling up my data science skill set for a career change I’m trying to make happen ASAP.

 

How did you get into punk???

My earliest memories of punk were DEFINITELY from playing the Tony Hawk games as a kid. I easily spent hundreds of hours on each game and have those soundtracks burned into my brain forever. The Bouncing Souls, Less Than Jake, Suicidal Tendencies, Goldfinger, and the rest of the bands were a major catalyst for me seeking more music (not to mention the hip hop and metal on those games too).

 

I also had two older cousins, Charlie and Corey, that played in bands, who would always show me new-to-me bands, take me to local shows, and unintentionally helped to cultivate my taste today. For punk specifically, that was Charlie. His band Monkeyknifefight is so much fun and I’ve seen them dozens of times over the last 10+ years.

 

How did Leachate start??

Leachate started as a one man band that our drummer Ethan was doing. He put out some demos and some splits that I thought were cool, plus he was showing me a lot of mincecore bands like Haggus and Archagathus and exposing me to that world of music.

 

What was the line up?? 

Him and I can’t agree on what happened next. He thinks he asked me to join on guitar so we could play shows. I think I told him I’m in Leachate now and that’s how we became a two piece. We added our good friend Jon Ward (Photoclub, Azucares, Base Print Productions) on drums to round it out, leaving Ethan on bass. I think all three of us were doing vocals starting out.

 

Whats the line up now?

Currently it’s me on guitar, Ethan on drums, Andrew Nye (Suppressive Fire, Eyn, ex-Arghast) on bass, and all three of us doing vocals.

 

Whats your guys influences?

When Leachate was still mainly Ethan’s baby it was a lot of Archagathus, Despise You, Man is the Bastard, and other bands in that wheelhouse (with a healthy dose of 90s Memphis hip hop love thrown in there). We don’t really play that strict of a grindcore/powerviolence sound anymore, so we’re pulling in influences from everywhere. Andrew loves black metal so that really stands out in his vocal delivery and bass style. My favorite band of all time is My Chemical Romance, so I try to focus more on similar song structures and overall song delivery. Maybe someone will notice one day which of their riffs I’m “influenced by”.

 

Oh we also love Priapus and BrainXToilet (North Carolina Dad Grind) so they definitely trickle into our sound.

 

Whats the coolest show you guys played?

For me I have to go with February 21st, 2020: Greasy Grindfest II at The Maywood in Raleigh, NC. That was a fest Ethan and I built where we had 12 bands from NC and VA playing from like 3pm to midnight. I did two sets and Ethan played four. Our homies in BrainXToilet headlined which RULED, all the bands got paid, and it was the day after my birthday so I was H E L L A L I T.

 

Do you guys have any releasing soon?

Right now Leachate has a big split / comp with four other North Carolina bands in the works that should be coming out in the next few months. That one will have a mix of grindcore, black metal, dark hardcore, and some covers I’ve been wanting to do forever. It’s the most time I’ve put into songwriting and has us infusing more death metal into our sound than we have, so it’s been fun to branch out from our old material.

 

My other band Locust Reign (with Joseph from Sleep Torture) is finishing our first album set for a late Spring-ish release, so be on the lookout for that too.

 

Any shoutout you want to give?

Shouts out BrainXToilet, Mo’ynoq, Basilica, Pathogenesis, Basura, Sleep Torture, MSD, Night Hag, Cody Ward aka Based Ward aka Gody, Tommy Wright III, Project Pat, Will Butler at To Live A Lie Records, Max Ward at 625 Thrash, April and Kay, the whole Maywood staff, Busted Chops, SKUZ, all y’all that boost our Spotify numbers, Home Astronomy, Mijail, Jon Ward tha OG, Noah and Kody, shoot I can probably go on all day.

 

Thanks for your time

Thank you Marco!

https://leachatenc.bandcamp.com/music

Jungle Juice/Terminal Nation #49

What's up everyone still trying to adjust to my work schedule. been weird but I think release the interviews on Wednesday should work. Anything this week I interview Stan from Terminal Nation he talks little bout his old band Jungle Juice and talks bout Terminal Nation hope you guys like it enjoy .

State your name and what band are in?

Stan: Yo it’s Stan and I play in the band Terminal Nation.

How you doing Stan??

Stan:  I’m good, dude. Trying to stay sane until this COVID stuff starts to dissipate.

How did you get into punk?

Stan: I think like a lot of people, I was introduced to punk in the early 2000s through Epitaph and Fat style skate pop punk bands and kind of spinning off from there. Bands like Pennywise, Rancid, NOFX were kind of gateway bands to me and once I found those I would dig deeper online and in the liner notes of their CDs to try to find other bands and it kind of spiraled from there. When I discovered Grind, crust, and power violence, I really gravitated towards that shit because it embodied everything I loved about punk but was sonically way more brutal and punishing.

How Jungle Juice start as a band?

Stan: I think Jungle Juice started out of boredom and necessity in our area. There were no hardcore bands here in Little Rock and when hardcore tours would come through there were no bands to play with them. So we started the band to have something to do and to fill in that local band gap.

What was the line up?

When we started off it was just a 3 peice with me and my buddy at the time Jake on drums and Ted on guitar.

How long was JJ as a band?

We were entirely active through out, but we existed for about 8 years. I think from 2008 to 2016.

How did you guys get the split with Fedup?

I think it came about after playing some shows with them on a West Coast tour. I really loved those dudes and it was great hanging out with them. We talked about doing a split on that tour and made it happen the next year.

How did JJ end as a band?

We really weren’t doing too much for a year or two and decided to go out with a bog bang and have a final show in our hometown of Little Rock. It was a pretty spectacular end to thing.

How did you get the name for JJ?

Funny story. We came up with the name of the band when we attended some shitty frat party and the dudes there were trying to beef with us and our friends. They were all drinkin a mixed alcoholic drink out of a big cooler that they called Jungle Juice, so right before we left that whack ass party a couple of us took a piss in their jungle juice cooler and when we laughed on the drive home we were like “let’s start a band called Jungle Juice”.


Then you started Terminal Nation?

Yeah I started Terminal Nation in 2014 with our bass player Chase T.

What was the line up how when you guys started?

The OG Terminal Nation lineup was me, Chase T, Tommy on guitar, Chase D on Drums and Ted from Jungle Juice played guitar for a little bit.

Ice Watch is a really sick song and tell people the struggles that some of the Raza dealing with ICE.

Yeah man, that shit sucks. There a large Latino population here in Arkansas and it’s just upsetting to see people living in fear while striving to obtain a better quality of life. The whole process with the current administration’s xenophobic way is just so unnecessarily cruel and heinous. Things don’t have to be this way.

Whats the Influences for both bands?

I think with both bands I wanted something that was hardcore but more rooted in the grittiness of punk or crust type of shit. TN has evolved more to lean a lot more metallic but I still think we embody a lot of the crust and PV influences that we had early on. Just heavier now.

Any awesome shows you guys played?

Yeah, we have played a lot of cool shows. I really love the last LA show we played at Perez Tires. Everyone was so fuckin cool and welcoming at that show. If not for COVID, we planned to play LA again this year.

Any releases coming out?

We dropped our first LP back in August, we’re already writing for the second. I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of two LPs worth of material dropping without the opportunity to play the songs live but we may do like a split or an EP or something to kind of split those releases up yet still give people new music this year. That all remains to be seen.

Any shoutout you want to give?

Here’s some cool, lesser known shit I’ve been vining with lately: Phobophillic, Fleshrot, Bones of the Earth, Knoll, Gravesend, Internal, Shackled, and World Peace.

https://linktr.ee/terminalnation

Backslider #48

What's up everyone I been gone since I somewhat  went back to reality so Ill try to post interview as much as I can. Anyways this week I interview the powerviolence band from Philly yes I'm talking about Backslider. I heard of them a while ago in the vein of Lack of interest I really recommend, if your into that style of powerviolence. Here is the interview enjoy.

 State your name and what band you are in.

-Logan, guitarist/vocalist for Backslider.

How are you doing? 

-Generally plagued by dread and stress, but things could be worse...haha. Hoping for a better year.

How did you get into Punk? 

-I grew up in the middle of nowhere in Ohio, so aside from randomly seeing a Misfits shirt on some kid from another town I think that my introduction would've probably been this VH1 documentary called 25 Years of Punk or something like that, it mentioned The Stooges, Dead Kennedys, Husker Du and a bunch of other bands that I still love. That might have been in 6th or 7th grade. Around 8th grade I found a VHS called Release that Victory put out that had a ton of interviews with bands and talked about the DIY work ethic. Both had a pretty big effect on me at the time.

How did Backslider start as a band? 

-We started in late 2008. Our original drummer Patrick and I knew each other from other bands and we started jamming in the living room of my first apartment in Philly. I don't specifically recall if we had any sort of goals or vision of the band at that point beyond just playing fast, which hardly anyone was doing around here back then.

How did you get the name? 

-Pat actually came up with the name. I think he originally intended it to be kind of a skating reference but it has a biblical connotation as well and is often used to describe a return to some sort of negative behavior patterns, so it still works.

What are your influences? I know the early songs sound like Lack of Interest.. 

-Lack of Interest, Hellnation, and No Comment were big ones early on. I still love all of those bands. These days we pull from lots of different influences- musically everything from Melvins to Darkthrone to Goblin to Man is the Bastard. But also a variety of books, movies, concepts, visual artists, etc.

How did you get the Split with No Comply???

-Honestly I don't really remember. Maybe Justin asked us? It didn't end up happening because of a combination of rejected songs and general miscommunication. Those songs eventually became our side of the split with Chainsaw to the Face.

What was the best show or tour you guys have done??

-Shit, that's a tough one. We've been very lucky to have played a ton of really sick shows over the years. Off the top of my head though- the Oakland show that we played with Bastard Noise where Eric did noise on one of our songs, the shows we did with Lil Ugly Mane, and the Infest/Doom show in Leeds were all incredible. 

Anynew releases coming out ?

-We have a split 7" coming out in the first half of the year, we just finished recording an LP, and starting a new EP soon. Details forthcoming...

Any shoutouts you want to give?

-Fuck all tr*mp supporters and fascists/fascist sympathizers.

https://backslider.bandcamp.com/

L.UL.U #47

What's up everyone this week I interview the band L.ul.u from Milan, Italy. There a sick fastcore band with a girl vocalist. I listened to them before but they got my attention when they did the sick Split with God's America from Vegas. Specially when they had the 36 chambers cover. if you haven't check them out they really sick. here is the interview enjoy. 

State your name and what band do you guys play in??? 

Chiara: Hi! I'm Chiara and I sing also in another band, Gli Stronzi Angel: Angel coffeeseed, i play drums in L.UL.U and Evil Cosby Blind Frankie: Hi, I'm Blind Frankie

How are you guys doing??

Chiara :Well everything's fine, sun, covid and curfew hahahaha Fine.
Angel: Covid gimme back my shitty life!
Blindfrankie :Swell

How did you get into punk? 

Chiara: I was about 13, and my uncle made me listen to some.punk bands. I learned to play awfully the bass and begun to go to squats and gigs (good old.times hahah)
Angel: I got into punk thanks my brother and skaters friends, when theymade me listen to bands like 2 minutos, dead Kennedys, rancid, descendents...
Blindfrankie: I got into punk because I was stupid, some things never change.

How is the Scene in Italy?

Chiara: Tough question...depends on the area. In the north of italy maybe there are more gigs and collectives but also in the south, I'm from Calabria, there are a lot of people busting their asses to organize gigs and squats even if it's more difficult.
Angel: Strange man...very strange, sometimes it seems to me that there is not much unity!
Blindfrankie: i dont know

How did you start L.ul.u??

Chiara: L.UL.U formed 3 years ago, i was busting Angel's balls to form a band, he said "there's a friend of mine who plays guitar, believes in aliens and boom
Angel: I don't remember surely chiara knows
Blindfrankie: I really don't know :)

 

How did you get the name L.ul.u?

Chiara: Maybe it sounded good...(?)
Angel: We took the name from an old cartoon, Little Lulu
Blindfrankie: I stepped on shit

How did you guy's get to do the split with God's America? 

L.UL.U :Mirco from Here and Now! Records gave us a list of bands to ask to, we wrote them first, they answered yes, me made it.

Are you guys Wu Tang Clan fans? Cause the limited cover is from the 36 chambers cover I know I'm a Wu Tang fan. 

Chiara: Sure dude, wu tang are awesome. LE BASSI ZIO!
Angel: is there anyone who's not a wu tang fan?
Blindfrankie: mmm No! :)

Is there any future releases??

L.UL.U :Rehearsal and record the new ep, hoping to get soon live! .
Chiara: Aooooooooo
Angel: Senti Stronzo!
Blindfrankie: La vita è una tempesta, prenderlo in culo è un lampo

What are L.ul.u Inflences?

Chiara: Bikini kill, gang green, bessie smith
Angel: Nirvana, los crudos, operation ivy
Blindfrankie:The beatles, Franco Battiato, Gianni Celeste

Any shoutout you guys want to give??

Chiara:Thanx for the interview! I hope to meet someday <3
Angel:Thank you bro!
Blindfrankie: Have a nice day ziggy

Thank you for your time 

https://lulufxc.bandcamp.com/

Depraved/Practicedhatredzine #46

 Whats up this week I'm interviewing the vocalist of Depraved and founder of Practicedhatred zine. The valley is an hour away from Oxnard and alot of cool punk,Hardcore and powerviolence bands. here is it the interview enjoy.

State your name and what bands have you played for and what label you run?

My name’s Gustavo, I do vocals in Depraved and Terror Suspect. I also run the zine and label called Practiced Hatred Fanzine. 

How are you doing Gus?

Doing alright so far, made it through 2020. Hope you guys in Oxnard are doing well. 

How did you get into punk?

I got introduced to Punk by a friend in Middle School, some of the first bands I discovered were Minor Threat, Agnostic Front and Negative Approach.

How did Depraved start as a band? 

Depraved started somewhere in early 2016, I knew Jordan through my brother, and I remember messaging Tony about the project. I was introduced to Tony via a mutual friend at Destroy LA, David was friends with Tony and would come to the few practices we had. I met Nicoli at a super market where he worked at, I asked him if he wanted to join on noise/synths after the 2016 demo was recorded. 

Around the same time you started Practiced Hatred Fanzine. You also started it as your own label? 

I started PHFZ while I was in Forged back in 2015. The reason behind its inception was mainly because I enjoyed the way old fanzines were put together. Fanzines like Schism, Hardware, Touch & Go and Monkeybite led the way for me I’d say. I don’t think I ever intended into turning the zine into a label, it just happened. PHFZ’s first release was the Forged 2015 demo lathe, ever since I used it as an outlet to release my own bands’ projects or bands I liked.

What was the line up in Depraved? 

The line up with Depraved was Jordan (Drums), Tony (Guitar), David (Bass), Nicoli (Synths) and myself (Vox). Jordan left the band in 2017 for personal reasons. Chris filled in on drums on our first run of out of town shows, I knew Chris from High School from some class I was a TA in. He later filled in on drums for the remainder of the time. 

What was the influences? 

As for influences I would say many. We all have different tastes but if we could agree on what drove to the start were bands like Negative Approach, SSD, Infest, Crossed Out and Lack of interest.

Then after that you started Intruder and Terror Suspect which both bands are sick.. 

Intruder was started in 2017, Alex wanted to start a project that was more in the hardcore spectrum of things. I played bass and asked Chris to join on drums and Alex got his brother on vocals. Intruder recorded 1 demo and played 2 shows. Terror Suspect started sort of the same way, same idea as Intruder. We were doing Depraved at the time and figured it be cool to do a more Hardcore project in the vein of Boston Hardcore influenced by California powerviolence. The Terror Suspect line up consists of Alex (Guitar), Nicoli (Bass), Jordan (Drums) & myself (Vox). 

What was the most awesome shows or Tour you been on?

I would say all the shows we played were pretty good. But if I had to pick a few I would say the last night of our South West weekend run w/ Gimp. That Arizona show was pretty cool, another one would  be on our last run of shows when we played Core House, that show was great. Another one would be when we played the rec center for the record release of Dead Weight, that whole show was a good time. 

How was the last show for Depraved? 

Why did it come to an end?

The last show for Depraved I would say was pretty succesful, we saw all of our friends, from the beginning and those we met along the way. We played our first and last show in the bay, thanks to Gabe for helping us out with those. Depraved came to an end mainly because we all just wanted to do something different and I ended up moving to Las Vegas. We started writing for a new Lp a couple months ago that will be titled Nada es facil en la vida, which will be released  sometime over the next year or 2.

Any releases coming out on your label or your current band?

There’s a few coming out this year. I’m currently working on issue 9 of PH, some releases we announced before the year ended were the Terror Suspect: Both Demos tape, a new Hanging Body demo and the Internal 7” titled Primal State which is currently at the plant. As for more release updates I’d say keep an eye on the IG page. 

Any shoutouts you want to give?

I’d like to say thank you for taking the time in asking these, it’s a bit harder answering than asking. Thanks to friends who supported the label since it started and all the friends we made along the way. Keep an eye out on Nicoli’s new project called Zebes as well for labels Blast For Humanity and Sore Ear Collective. 

Terrorsuspect.bandcamp.com 

Depravedhc.bandcamp.com

@PracticedHatredFanzine

Thanks for your time 

Aputasos/Moldering Vibration #45

Hey what is up sorry there wasn't any new interview last week I got caught up with something but anyways this week I interview a homie of mine that was in a killer grindcore band. I saw them a lot of times like Sordo. and I seen his recent band which is cool and they played with Grind and Bear it, YACÖPSAE and Stimulant. Well here is the interview of Aputasos/Modering Viberation  enjoy.

 State your name and what band do you play  for??? 

Yo what's up Marco, hope you're doing good.  I'm Jose and I play for Menacing Glare and Moldering Vibration, and I have a million other failed projects haha. 

How are you doing? 

Good man, about to go to work soon.

Congrats on your little one. 

Thanks homie.  Ya the third child is a handful,  all of them are in their own way but I enjoy them and weird stuff they do.

How did you get into punk??? 

El Monte backyard scene back in '99. I was a tween. I got into the fast craziness of hardcore punk and grind,  so many serious shit was played through that time,  made me want to do it.

Was Aputasos your 1st band or you had a different one?? 

I had a lot of failed bands like I said haha!  But Aputasos stuck,  even with a million members,  and me constantly changing how we sounded,  because we were terrible hahaha! 

How did Aputasos start as a band? 

Me and Jerry thought of the idea, the bass player and guitarist I had when we started.  Then we got Jen, but that didn't last because of dumb band fights. Then came Sean and shit worked better.   But I don't feel the band truly became complete sadly, but we did play a lot of cool shows and toured, so that was fun. The latest was just me and Sean. But Jerry was in it for awhile. Dude so many vocalists hahaha.  And the mentioned. Yup see what I mean,  it was evolving all the time. 

then you started Pickled how did that start? 

That was Sean's idea. We were recording a lot, really shitty, and we just started bullshitting with the  idea.

Ya we did. I would message Sebastian, we liked each other's work.  Eventually I asked if he wanted to do a split,  he told me he had his other band that was more active, Mongolico. Then we finally met at the prefest show of Onefest when both Aputasos and Chulo played,  we were both really happy to meet each other in person. Great guys right there!

And we finalized the split there

How did Aputasos and Pickled end?? 

I failed miserably bringing a shit load of bands to LA in 2017, SGF, I was overwhelmed with something I want ready for, or wanted,  booking in LA.  I just wanted to play fun shows with friends and shit got out of hand.  Lost a lot of friends.  And I didn't want to play anymore at that time. 

How did menacing glare start?

And that's where MG started. Me and my homie Ricky trying to evolve our music, and build something new and more developed. We spent the rest of 2017 writing and a bit of 2018 too, then I finally started playing live again when I felt better about everything. 

What was the line up?? 

Ricky strings, Eddie vocals, me drums. 

We're still writing shit,  but Eddie quit. Wish him the best, he was a great guy and I truly care about that dude.   But like I said we're still writing and maybe I'll convince a rebirth of playing shows when covids done,  who knows. 

How did Moldering Vibration start as a band?

 

Moldering Vibration started cuz I wanted to do a sludge project and I met Nic. He Fucking loved sludge too, so eventually we started writing. We actually only wrote one song but Menacing Glare was on pause so then we kept writing and soon it became my main project. But eventually we started mixing grind, powerviolence and death metal into it to make it more banging.

Any releases coming out soon? 

Moldering Vibration second release. 

Menacing Glare 3rd release if I can convince Rick haha

Aputasos. It's a revisit of past work,  but I don't suck as much as I used to, so I wanna redo it right.  Plus I got some ideas i never got to do. 

Was there supposed to be an LxBxR Split in the works????

Ya Man LBR Split is still happening, we had to put it on pause our writing cuz I had to find a new job because of covid making my job inactive, schools closed. But now I'm finally working full time again so I'll be able to jam a little on Saturdays.

Any shoutout you want to give? My boys who write with me, Nic, Ricky, and now we have Kevin on bass! He's an awesome person.  Jaime rules,  happy birthday,  Jerry Flores, Jerry Zam.

Thanks for you time Jose 

Thank you for this Marco, felt good revisiting some memories.  Let's grow from them and create even more good times! 

https://molderingvibration.bandcamp.com/

A Wrench In the Gears/Kontaminat/Amoral #44

Hey what's up everyone this week I interview a Chi-town Og that been in the scene for a minute we talk bout his band and his all star band that he was in with a member of Crudos and Sin Orden. Here is the interview enjoy.

 State your name and what bands did you play in and are in?  

My name is Mike. I was in a band called Kontaminat.  I tried to start some other projects before that, but nothing ever materialized. Now I’m in Amoral.

How are you doing?  

 

I'm doing okay, thanks for asking. Trying to teach remotely, finish up academic research, and supervise my kids has been a  handful, but honestly I’m  just grateful to be healthy and employed. So many people are fucked. "We are living in a failed state", as George Packer put it. Covid has exposed how our society was barely hanging by a thread. My heart breaks for so many people, particularly BIPOC communities, where the pandemic has had disastrous effects. 

How did you get into punk?   

I got into punk just feeling different and out of place. I was a weird, awkward Jewish kid. I didn't fit in, wasn't good at sports, and got called homophobic slurs. (While I had a lot of self-pity as a teenager, I realize that what I went through is absolutely nothing compared to the actual forms of oppression that many experience through "racist ideas", as Ibram X Kendi calls them.) I had my own self-esteem issues and just didn't fit in. I became friends with a kid named Mike Wohl because we were into the same role-playing games. We both liked Green Day, and we got into Lookout and Epitaph stuff, as well as a lot of terrible ska. In 2000 we went to our first show at Fireside Bowl. While it was a pretty cringey lineup in retrospect, I immediately knew that punk, and the Fireside specially, was my solace. This went hand in hand with getting into some basic social justice stuff and basic leftist politics. At the time I thought bands like Anti-Flag and The Unseen were "political". Of course it was pretty mind-blowing to hear bands like Los Crudos, and then soon start seeing Latinx bands from the South and Southwest sides of Chicago. Here were people who were really experiencing real shit as well as working towards tangible change, not just the cliche, abstract "political" punk lyrics that I was accustomed to. Between seeing those bands and then going to anti-war protests a few years later, I was absolutely hooked.

How's the scene in Chicago?   

I love the Chicago scene, and I feel fortunate to be a part of it. While it's far from perfect, I'm grateful that there are a lot of amazing people who have worked to create more equitable spaces, including the Black and Brown collective as well as many others committed to making a safe scene for women, underage girls, LGBTQIA people, etc. We have a really cool venue called Bricktown, and I hope it's here post-Covid. There's a lot of cool bands like Udusic, Dog Flashback, Primitive Teeth, Eskeletos, Robotrip, Porno Glows, Canal Irreal, Daylight Robbery, Tzar Bomba, and my favorite band, Mock Execution. That's not every band, but some bands that I like. I hope more bands start up when the pandemic ends.

How did Kontaninat start as a band? People from crudos, rat bastards, chronic seizure, sin orden etc how did you get an all star line up? 

Kontaminat started with myself and our bassist, Pat, talking at a show about doing a band. I was down to play bass or sing and so was Pat. Jay had done a bunch of bands with Pat over the years, so Pat asking him just made sense. Lupe/Gordo has for a long time been my favorite drummer in Chicago. His accenting is incomparable and he hits so hard. I was thrilled when he said he was down. I'm not sure who thought to ask Jose, but he's an amazing guitarist who was clearly influenced by the best Italian HC bands that I loved. We all brought riffs and from our first practice it just clicked immediately. 

What were your guys influences?

It's hard to say. We all love the best 80's hardcore punk from around the world- Italy, Japan, Brazil, Norway, etc. In the riffs I wrote, I didn't seek to emulate one band or style, and I think it was the same with everyone else. We got compared to Deathreat in one review, "Scandinavian shit" by some others, "Totalitar mixed with 86 Mentality vocals" by someone else. Jay listened to a lot of crust, and I felt like we all brought in our influences to the riffs and songs we wrote. Most of Jose's riffs were definitely influenced by Italian HC like Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers and Wretched, but he also wrote a riff that was like Asta Kask but a little less melodic. Gordo's accenting reminded me of what Todd did in Deathreat, which I thought made the songs powerful. Jay loves Totatlitar and a lot of Swedish HC and I always felt like that was a strong influence in his songs.

How long were you guys a band? 

We had our first practice in March 2011 and played our last show in December 2014. 

How was the last show?

We didn't have a proper last show, per se. We played a basement with a bunch of local bands. We didn't know it would be our last show. The band ended on a really ugly note but I felt so relieved when it was over. Still, it was very bittersweet. We never recorded our best songs, and I wish we could have continued.

How did you start A Wrench in the gears Label?? 

I started it with my friend Mike Wohl, who I mentioned earlier. In the early 2000's there were a lot of amazing bands from Chicago who weren't really known outside the city. I remember seeing Non Fiction Nois (NFN)  in a backyard on the Southwest Side of Chicago. There was a turf war going on in the neighborhood between local gangs, according to our friends who lived in the neighborhood. We heard gunshots and police sirens between bands. Jr, the drummer of NFN, confided in me that his dad had kicked him out of their house after he came out the closet. It was surreal to experience real punk with real people who were going through real shit.  NFN went on at midnight, under a tarp while it was raining, and went apeshit. It was the punkest thing I had ever seen, and it blew my mind that no one outside the city knew about it. It started with the idea of putting out a record. 

Mike and I were talking and he wanted to do it together, and show how awesome the Chicago scene was. We decided to start with doing a distro and we thought we'd be "raising money" to release a record. We were really naive, but also militantly committed to a DIY ethic. We pragmatically planned out a giant list of records to order from Ebullition. We got stickers and wrote descriptions on records, got a notebook for inventory, and planned what records to buy. This was 2003, and Deathreat's Consider It War and Tragedy's Vengeance had just been pressed on vinyl. We ordered a bunch of copies and were thrilled that they all sold out. This alone convinced us that we would be extremely successful, and generate enough of a profit margin to press records! How naive we were! But that said, selling those records was empowering and gave us the confidence we needed to give it a go. "Wrench HQ" became Mike's bedroom. Also, we were still in high school while this was going on. We would ditch classes to send out orders. We were motivated; punk was everything to us. We were determined as hell. At one point it seemed like the label was our whole world. The first record we put out was the I-Attack LP. In the end we put out five records, my favorite being No Slogan's No Pasaran EP. The label lasted four years. In the end, while it didn't last, I'm grateful for what we did. Respect to people who are still doing DIY labels today.

Mike then you started Amoral?  How did that band start? 

I actually didn't start Amoral. Our guitarist and drummer, Chris and Oliver, wrote songs for six months before the rest of us practiced. Kontaminat and had played with Chris' old band, Haka, and we had become good friends. Chris asked me if I would be interested in singing. He said that their songs were influenced by shit like Knife Fight, Urban Blight, Negative Approach, Crucifix, early AF, etc. When I heard their practice tape I was blown away. We practiced and then played two shows before Covid hit. We look forward to getting back to it at some point.

Tell me about your 'zine.

I've always loved zines. I like to write, I love punk, it just makes sense. I did one as a teenager that was pretty cringey, but in an adorable way. In 2007 decided to do a zine. I was obsessed with the No Thanks song, "Fuck Everything", so those four words became the title of the zine, later shortened to just No Thanks. I was really obsessed with Frank from Atrocious Madness/Lebenden Toten's zines: R'yleh Rising and Warning. Those zines covered all the raw, blown punk I loved and had the perfect layout, really inspired by Crass Records releases, as well as american bands like Crucifix. I absolutely loved those zines, and in the beginning especially, tried to emulate that aesthetic. I honestly can't imagine laying out a 'zine or flier any other way besides cut 'n paste. The first band I ever interviewed was Barcelona's Invasión, and since then I knew I wanted to keep doing it. I interviewed bands and wrote about shit I thought was cool, whether it was Russian literature, 90's hip-hop, whatever. I did seven issues, the last which came out in 2011. I completed two interviews that year that are laid out but I had procrastinated releasing, due to teaching, academic research, personal stuff, family, etc. I've got an interview with a singer from one of my favorite 80's USHC bands coming up for the next issue. Better late than never. I want to keep doing it consistently. 'Zines like Negative Insight  and General Speech are amazing and inspired me to finish this issue.

How did you get the name for your bands?? 

I'm not sure how we came up with Kontaminat, but we just went with it. "Amoral" came from the lyrics to one of our songs: "Amoral liberals ask you to stand but cross the street  when they see a black man." This past year we have seen how a lot of liberals are completely amoral. They've stopped talking about Black lives and police brutality. Now that Biden has been elected they are going back to complicity. 

Trump and the Right are obviously amoral. It's important to note this, because it's not that we simply share a difference of opinion from them. They are fascists. Fascism is not a legitimate ideology. As fascism is trying to spread, we've got to be united in opposing it. Tuesday's actions show how dangerous amoral fascist and fascit sympathizers are.

Any releases coming out? 

Amoral recorded a demo and we'd like to record again when Covid is over. I'd kinda like to put out records and tapes again at some point. I'm honestly more so focused on my academic writing and education work. But punk rules, obviously, and I'd like to keep doing bands.

Any shoutout you want to give? 

Shoutout to my life partner, Shana, for being my rock during Covid. I'd like to give props to Amoral, who I miss practicing with, as well as the best teacher I've ever had, Dr. Nicole Holland, who got me an assistantship to pay for graduate school and worked with me to get my thesis published. She modeled scholarship and has been committed to educational justice. Shoutout to my coworkers and the Chicago Teachers Union for fighting for safe classrooms for students and teachers. Shoutout to Anya and Club A for being an inspiration for mutual aid. Shoutout to everyone doing their part to try to combat injustice and create a more equitable world, no matter the methods. Shoutout to my grandmother, Anna Nessy Perlberg, who escaped Hitler, dedicated her life to fighting against injustice and police torture, and demanded that we never be complicit. May she Rest In Power.

Thanks for your time Mike  

Thank you Tone

https://amoralchc.bandcamp.com/releases